


Recruits

by bluegeekEM



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: BAMF Women, Gen, Rebellion, Siblings, The First Order Sucks, Written for the Awesome Ladies Podficathon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-27
Updated: 2020-01-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:47:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22438960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluegeekEM/pseuds/bluegeekEM
Summary: It's completely natural for your sister to talk up your abilities at the same time as she's embarrassing you in front of one of the leaders of the Resistance movement that you are trying to join, right?
Relationships: Paige Tico & Rose Tico
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	Recruits

“You two are from the Otomok system?” Admiral Holdo was direct in manner, seeming to focus on them alone, despite the surrounding bustle.

“Hays Minor, yes, Admiral. We grew up in one of the small mining colonies,” Rose replied. She tried to keep her voice steady and not reveal how nerve wracking it was to be standing in front of this woman who possessed a galaxy-wide reputation and statuesque appearance. Rose couldn’t decide if her hair, the green of a new leaf, made her more or less intimidating. 

Admiral Holdo nodded and cast a glance aside to Admiral Ackbar, who inclined his own head in return.

“Then I think you already have an idea of what we’re up against.” Admiral Holdo raised one eyebrow at them until both Rose and Paige had nodded their heads in agreement. “We are working with limited resources while the First Order seems to have endless supply lines.”

“Yes, Admiral. We’ve-” Paige replied, but cut herself off with another shake of her head.

Rose met her sister’s eyes and continued for her. “We’ve seen. Hays Minor has been under First Order rule for… a long time, now. They’ve taken everything they could from the planet, both in mining the raw materials and…” Rose took a deep breath. “And people. Many of the children have been taken.”

Admiral Ackbar breathed a wet sort of sigh. “We’ve heard similar from many planets across multiple systems. The Order has been known to call it ‘harvesting’ for their stormtrooper program.”

Admiral Holdo pressed her lips into a hard line for several moments, looking between Rose and Paige. She nodded decisively. “You’ve got plenty of reason to want to join us.”

“Yes!” Paige replied, her voice strong, once again. Rose nodded along with her and placed a hand on Paige’s shoulder in solidarity.

“Good. We welcome you.” 

Rose felt Paige’s hand cover her own, and looked up to meet her eyes, smiling. Perhaps they could make a difference again, something even bigger than the small acts of defiance they accomplished back home. 

Admiral Holdo parted from Admiral Ackbar and waved Rose and Paige along with her. “Because resources are short, I want to put you both where you’ll do the most good. I know you’re family, and likely wish to remain together. That may not always be possible if your skills are needed elsewhere.”

“Understood, Admiral,” Rose replied, knowing her worry was obvious in her voice. “I’m mechanically inclined. I grew up learning to repair the vehicles and mining equipment we used in the colony.”

“She’s also really good at figuring out how to break them, when needed, as well,” Paige added.

“Paige!” Rose hissed, adding a shushing motion to the exclamation. It would, perhaps, not be the _best_ idea for her sister to brag about Rose’s occasional acts of sabotage, even though it was against the First Order.

“Indeed.” Rose thought that the Admiral might sound… intrigued? But she didn’t pursue further information just then, instead turning to Paige. “And you?”

Paige shrugged. “I’ve got good aim, so I can shoot things.” 

“Paige!” Rose could feel her eyes bug out slightly, torn between the urge to defend her sister’s abilities on principle and irritation at her sister’s underestimation of herself to their new commander.

“Sorry, Sis.” Paige’s shoulder brushed against Rose as she shrugged. “It’s true, though.”

Admiral Holdo, however, chuckled softly. “Succinct.”

Rose cleared her throat. “It’s true that she’s got good aim, Admiral, but she’s also got potential as a pilot. We used to practice on a sim that our grandmother had and although I wasn’t particularly good at it, Paige was always needing the difficulty levels advanced-”

Paige huffed out a gruff sigh. “You crash once in a sim, Rose, and then you decide you’re never going to be able to be Hera Syndulla or Wedge Antilles, so what’s the point-”

“Paige!” Rose hissed, turning towards her sister in chagrin.

This time, however, Admiral Holdo laughed outright. “Alright, alright, you two. I think you’ll both fit in just fine here.”

At that, Paige grinned, and Rose could read the relief in her eyes.

“Paige,” the Admiral continued, “I’ll send you for pilot training. You can work with them to find the best fit for your set of skills, but I suspect you’d do well and we’re always in need of able pilots and gunners. Rose, we can always use mechanics in our engineering corps. It sounds like you’ve worked mostly with small craft and mining machinery?”

Rose’s stomach dropped and her hand clutched reflexively on her pendent. It would be terrible to know of the danger they would be in out there, but so much worse if she was back on a base somewhere fixing refrigeration units while Paige was on the front lines… “That’s mostly what I’ve had access to, yes-”

“But she’ll tackle anything, Admiral,” Paige cut in. “And if you want full disclosure then you should know that her ‘mechanical inclination’ is more than just that. She can research _anything_ and figure out how it works, inside and out, and how to make it better.”

The Admiral turned back to Rose. “Do you agree with your sister’s assessment?”

“Well,” Rose stuttered for a moment. Was it normal for an _admiral_ to spare this much time and focus to a couple of new recruits? This whole situation - their flight from Hays Minor, their attempts to make contact with the Resistance, meeting people she’s read about in history books - felt like a holodrama she never would have believed as a child. 

Rose took a slow breath to focus herself She could worry later. “I do study the craft and equipment I work with. I like to know all the nooks and crannies, and how everything works so I can fix it when it doesn’t.”

Admiral Holdo nodded approvingly. “Then we may have a place for you in the air, as well.”

Rose’s relief was cut short, however, when she caught the mischievous glint in Paige’s eyes just before her sister added, “And she’s a fair hand at making toys, though I’m not sure how that particular skill can be repurposed into something the Resistance can use. Her miniature fathier toys, in particular-”

“They were _action figures_ , Paige, not toys, and I don’t think that’s the sort of thing an _Admiral_ needs to know about!”

Admiral Holdo appeared to be suppressing another laugh. “Well, you never know when such a… unique… skill might come in handy, I’ll have to give that one some thought. Now, here we are, Paige, I’d like to introduce you to Commander Fossil and Major Temmin Wexley…”

**Author's Note:**

> This story was written for the Awesome Ladies Podfic Anthology in collaboration with [thimblerig](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thimblerig).

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[PODFIC] Recruits, by bluegeekEM](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22441999) by [Thimblerig](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thimblerig/pseuds/Thimblerig)




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